Tuesday, October 19, 2004

The buck stops where?

The Pentagon (and, presumably, The White House) knew the evil that was going on at Abu Ghraib Prison in November of 2003.

It's now almost a year later, and who has been brought to account? Chain of command is supposed to work in both directions - commanders are responsible for what their subordinates do. This is as much true in the civilian sector as the military, and George Bush is both the civilian CEO AND the military Commander-in-Chief, yet beyond those few show-trials of enlisted men (and woman), not one member of the command staff has been so much as reprimanded publicly for this.

Where is Harry Truman's famous desk sign when we need it? When CEOs fail so badly, and cast such a bad light on their companies, they get fired. When military commanders screw up so spectacularly, they are cashiered, if not court-martial'ed. I think it's time to send a few pink slips.